


Cometh the Hour….

by Lilachigh



Category: Abbey Girls - Elsie J. Oxenham
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 10:41:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15071480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilachigh/pseuds/Lilachigh
Summary: Paris, 1940 - and Biddy Verdier has a big decision to make.





	Cometh the Hour….

Cometh the Hour by Lilachigh

It was June, a warm, airless day in Paris. Everywhere was quiet - too quiet. Ruth Norman thrust a handful of notes at her taxi-driver and ran up the stone steps to the ornate front door of an old house set in a quiet Parisian avenue. She rang the bell but no one came. In despair, she turned the handle and, to her surprise, the door opened.

“Is that you, Ruth?” 

She ran across the wide, black and white chequered marble floor and gazed up two stories to where the twisting black iron staircase ended. A woman with short brown hair was leaning precariously over the top banister and for a second or two, Ruth was back in London in the old block of flats where her cousins had once lived, with Biddy leaning over from the top floor to shout down to whoever was walking up the many flights of stairs.

“Yes. I came as quickly as I could. Where is everyone? Where’s your housekeeper?” 

“Gone. All the staff have left.”

Ruth ran up the stairs and found Biddy Verdier in one of the bedrooms, packing a little suitcase.

“Oh Biddums, you’ve changed your mind. Thank goodness. You’re coming with us!”

“No.”

“But you can’t stay in Paris. The Germans are really close now. Thank God we left the children with Ralph’s parents before we flew across last month. The Embassy are advising everyone to leave if they can. Ralph has booked us seats on a plane tonight from Orly. He’ll get a ticket for you somehow.”

Biddy sat down suddenly on the edge of the bed and ran fingers through her chic hair style and Ruth realised that the patina of French style was just that, a surface covering. Underneath was the tough little Londoner her cousin had always been.

“I’m not leaving France. Etienne and I are driving south tonight, to our Annecy house.”

“But Biddy - you’ll never get through. There are patrols everywhere, according to Ralph.”

“We have to try. We’ll be fine. Etienne knows all the back roads and lanes. Once we’re there, we’ll just be Madame and Monsieur Verdier living quietly in the country, but....well, he thinks there will be things we can do to help.”

“Things? But if you’re caught - you’re English, Biddy. You’ll be arrested.”

“We have to do something, Ruth. We can’t just run away to America. We have to fight. This is our home.”

“But the children - ?”

Biddy looked up and for a second her brown eyes filled with tears. Then a brush of her hand banished them. “That’s why I rang you. Marie-Rose is already in Annecy, staying with Annette. If anything happens to us, Mary and Ros know where she is. They will find her, care for her. But Madelon-Marie - “ She hesitated. “We can’t risk her coming with us - just in case. Ruth - I need you and Ralph to take her to America.”

“What!” Ruth sank down onto the bed next to her cousin and gripped her hands tightly. “What are you saying?”

“She’s ten years old and a good girl. Quiet, gentle, so like Mary. She’ll be no trouble.”

“Biddy, I know she’s a sweetheart, but how can you bear to send her so far away.”

“I can’t bear it! Of course, I can’t. But people are having to do things today that are far harder. Etienne never officially adopted her - always meant to, but never did. So she’s half British. She has a British passport for all the times she went backwards and forwards to stay with Ros in the holidays. Here it is. And I’ve packed her case.”

She stood up abruptly, turning away so her cousin couldn’t see her face. “It’s for the best, Ruth, believe me.”

“Maman?”

Ruth spun round - a small, black haired girl was standing in the doorway, already wearing a dark red beret and coat. Her face was very white.

“Ready, ma petite. That’s good. Here’s Tante Ruth. Like I told you earlier, you are going on holiday to America with her. On a plane, very exciting, eh? And little Mary and Bridget will be waiting for you when you get there. That’ll be fun.”

“But Maman, you and Papa - when will I come home?”

Ruth watched as Biddy squared her shoulders and spun round, a bright smile on her face. “Oh perhaps a little while. Once this nasty war is over. Probably by Christmas. Now, no tears. It’s an adventure.” She walked across to her daughter, straightened her beret and bent to kiss her. “Now, off you both go. Here’s your suitcase. Vite! I have things to do.”

She looked across the child’s head to her cousin and Ruth thought she’d never seen such pain in someone’s eyes. She had no idea what it was costing Biddy to send her daughter away with such a lack of emotion, knowing that showing her true feelings would only distress the child.

She took Madelon’s hand and headed for the stairs. There was no need to speak any words. Nothing she could say would help Biddy. Halfway down she turned and looked back. Biddy was standing, arms at her side, head up, silhouetted against a window, a shaft of golden sunlight catching her hair. She looked, Ruth realised, like an old fashioned heroine in a book. 

And she blew a kiss to the woman who would one day be a real heroine in the French Resistance.

ends


End file.
